


ISYMDPR - AFTER STUDY

by BxbyBai



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee Shops, FINALLY AN UPDATE IM SORRY, I SENT YOU MY DICK PLEASE RESPOND, ISYMDPR, M/M, Study Date, Twitter AU, follow me on twt for the rest of the au: babybaibaibai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BxbyBai/pseuds/BxbyBai
Summary: As Bokuto and Akaashi begin working on their project, Akaashi reveals he used to play volleyball.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Kudos: 30





	ISYMDPR - AFTER STUDY

**Author's Note:**

> follow my twt for the rest of the au so this makes sense LMAO https://twitter.com/babybaibaibai

Akaashi rolled his eyes at his friend's replies and put his phone down, watching as Bokuto’s eyes scanned his own screen, his fingers typing away. 

“Are you ready now?” Akaashi said, retouching his laptop screen in order to wake it back up. Before this had all happened and they got distracted on their phones, Bokuto had said something along the lines of “needing a break”. Thus, leading them to a twenty minute detour. 

The athlete nodded his head and put his phone down so fast Akaashi was afraid it was going to break. “Yes! Let’s do this! I’m ready!” He opened up the book that he had previously been looking at. 

He seemed pretty motivated for about thirteen seconds before he slumped his shoulders again. “I can’t do this,” He whined. 

“Yes you can, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi said flatly, typing away at his draft document, placing words that didn’t really make sense to the outside eye, but would remind him of things later. “Just focus.”

“But I  _ can’t! _ ”

Akaashi sighed. “Yes you can. I believe in you.” He said, almost sarcastically. 

Bokuto’s back straightened and his face perked up. “You do?!” He then smiled like he won a prize. “Okay okay, I can do this,”

Akaashi was interested to say the least. Was that all he really had to say to him? He felt like there was so much to Bokuto as a person, and he wanted to figure it out. His child-like excitement used to annoy him, and still kind of did… but now it was also endearing. It was sweet how someone out there was still so innocent. 

Akaashi couldn’t help his lips from turning up a bit as he continued to type the draft. 

It had probably only been five minutes since their last interruption when Bokuto began to whine again. “Akaaaaaashi,” He pushed the book back and then slouched down in his chair. “I’m bored.” 

Akaashi wouldn’t lie, he was getting bored too. It had been a lot of researching and his eyes were beginning to feel dry. After all, it was nearly noon and they had been here since the morning. Anybody would get bored. 

“What else do you suppose we could do?” He asked, looking up at Bokuto with his signature flat expression. “It has to be quiet though.” He added, noting how Bokuto may not realize this was a quiet-setting. 

Bokuto’s eyes had lightened up when he realized Akaashi was asking him what  _ they  _ should do. He saw this as “friendliness” and it made him way too happy.

“Outside!” He said, far too loudly. 

Akaashi sighed, but started packing his stuff up anyway. “Okay, but only for a little bit. We still have to get this stuff done.” He chose to rationalize his decision by claiming he wanted some fresh air. In reality, he was getting bored himself. 

“Of course we will! We have months!” Bokuto said, quickly shoving everything into his bag. Akaashi cringed at the idea of how many papers were sitting crushed and crumpled at the bottom of the athlete’s bag. 

Akaashi, doing the opposite, and carefully tucking everything away, shook his head in disapproval. “That’s not a good mindset to have.” 

“And why not?” Bokuto asked, genuinely curious. 

Akaashi tucked in his chair and began walking out. “Because. If you keep saying  _ oh we have so much time _ eventually you’ll always think that.” He looked back at Bokuto who was still staring at him with wide-eyed confusion. “And then you only have a week left and you fail.” 

He nodded. “Yeah. That does happen.” He said with a glum expression. Akaashi figured he had a lot of experience with that whole concept. 

Bokuto wore a somber expression for only a moment more, but once he saw the doors, his attention was only focused on that. His face livened up as he rushed that way. Once he reached outside, he dramatically spread his arms wide as if he was trying to photosynthesize. 

Akaashi took his time, not seeing the point in rushing. It was getting chilly and he wasn’t a fan of the cold. 

“Akaashi!” Bokuto yelled out, bouncing up and down like a two year old. When Bokuto turned around and noticed that Akaashi was still just walking out the door, he dropped his arms. “Liven up! Look how bright the sun is!”

“It’s cold.” He said plainly, walking alongside Bokuto.

“So we just have to move, right? Science?” He said, as he began to move his shoulders up and down. “Blood flow and stuff, right?”

Despite the 3rd-grade-level logic, Akaashi gave a small smile. “Yes,  _ technically _ .” 

“Okay, so, just do this,” He said, still shaking his shoulders. 

“No.” He said, looking around. “People are watching.” He said, readjusting his bag on his shoulder. 

“So?” He said. “They’re cold too. If anything they’ll just think we’re smart and copy us,” He said, not missing a beat. 

“I’m good,” He said, walking down the sidewalk.

Bokuto gave a final shrug. “Alright. Suit yourself.” He followed after Akaashi. “Where are you going?” He said, grabbing straps of his bag. “Do you have a plan or…”

“There’s a park a little ways this way.” He said, taking his hands out of his pockets to point in a certain direction. “Seems better to walk at a park than by a busy road.”

Bokuto hummed as he understood and eventually it fell quiet. The only sounds being the busy streets and their footsteps. 

The “silence” was killing Bokuto. 

“Do you go down here a lot?” He asked, desperately trying to find a conversation. 

Akaashi, who  _ had  _ been enjoying the quiet, nodded. “Yeah.” He said shortly. Then he rolled his eyes at himself. Bokuto had done nothing wrong… no use in being short with him. “I- uh.” There was only one problem with not being short for once … Akaashi wasn’t sure how to keep a conversation going. “I have a roommate,” he began, “And if he’s not at his boyfriend’s apartment, they’re both at ours, and they’re always doing… stuff.” He said, giving Bokuto a look letting him know that it is exactly what it sounds like. “So getting work done isn’t exactly easy, so I usually spend most of my time down here.” 

“Well that’s nice of you,” Bokuto said, still basically bouncing up and down as he walked. “Most people would make them leave.”

The corners of Akaashi’s mouth turned up ever so slightly. “I guess it’s just easier that way.. I guess.” He said, his eyes glued to the ground.  _ Did he really say ‘I guess’ that many times in one sentence?  _

“I just always play really annoying music and they’ll usually stop.” Bokuto said, pulling out his phone and going onto Spotify. “I have a whole playlist.” He showed Akaashi his phone and they both stopped walking for a moment. Akaashi saw a playlist called:  _ Nothing like children singing to set the mood.  _ “They hate it.” 

Akaashi let out a little laugh. “That’s… wonderful.” 

“It is. I’ve been working on it since the start of freshman year.” He then pulled his phone back and they started walking again. A moment later Akaashi’s phone buzzed. “You should use it sometime.”

Akaashi opened the message and noticed Bokuto sent him the link to the playlist. “Maybe I will,” he said, laughing a bit.

Bokuto smiled proudly, but his face fell soon after. “Is that really my name in your phone!?” He asked, staring at his contact name. 

Akaashi nodded. “I told you it was, didn’t I?” He laughed, pocketing his phone and keeping his hands in them to try to avoid frostbite. “It has a nice ring to it, doncha think?”

“No. It doesn’t. Will you ever let that go?” Bokuto pleaded. 

“Probably not,” He said, looking over at Bokuto, a small smirk playing at his lips.

“So it left that much of an impression on you, huh?” Bokuto asked while raising his eyebrow, a proud smirk displayed on his face. 

Akaashi didn’t know how to respond for a few moments and stared at him dumbly. Once he processed what the athlete was implying, he got defensive. “What!? No! It’s nothing like that.”

❁❁❁

Five minutes later, and they had finally made it to the park. They were still just walking, but it was warming Akaashi up, so he was pretty content. 

Bokuto had been talking about how he thought journalism was going to be a lot easier and how he’d mainly taken the class for an easy english credit. Despite hearing how Bokuto wasn’t doing too well at it, it was good to hear that  _ someone  _ realized journalism wasn’t exactly easy. 

“I only went to college for volleyball, if we’re being honest.” He said, sighing. “I knew I needed a degree, sure… but I also just wanted more time, I guess.” He said, looking at the ground. 

Everytime Bokuto talked about something personal, he got a lot more hushed. Akaashi wouldn’t say  _ quiet  _ persea, but more shy for sure.

Akaashi couldn’t stop thinking about how truly endearing Bokuto was.

“Everyone has different passions. Some people don’t even need college.” Akaashi reasoned. 

Bokuto looked at Akaashi and tilted his head, not completely sure what he was saying. 

Akaashi began to elaborate. “What I mean is, who cares  _ why  _ you went to college. You should just do what you’re passionate about. Some people want to run their own business… they don’t need college.” He said, looking back down at the ground as he explained. “If volleyball didn’t have any college teams… You probably wouldn’t have gone to college, and that’s fine. Higher education should be seen as something to help you achieve your dream, not a necessity… if that makes sense.”

Bokuto smiled brightly. “Have you thought about this a lot?”

“Well, yeah.” He said shortly. “Afterall, I had to decide if I wanted to quit volleyball or not purely because I felt so pressured about getting higher education and focusing on it to become a journalist… but in reality, I had just put so much pressure on higher education - thinking it was such a necessity and here I am.” He said, a bitter-sweet smile playing on his lips. 

Bokuto’s eyes got wide. “You used to play volleyball!” He said, bouncing up and down. “Do you miss it? What position did you play?” He said, firing questions Akaashi’s way at lightning speed. 

“Bokuto-san.” He said flatly. “Calm down.” 

“Sorry.” He mumbled, even calming down for a few short moments. It was only a few seconds later until he had livened back up and had that bright twinkle in his eye again. “Wait, follow me!” He said, changing direction to exit the park. 

Akaashi simply sighed and followed Bokuto, not knowing what else he could do. Bokuto had seemed pretty determined. 

“Bokuto-san!” Akaashi called out, having to pick up his pace to catch up with him. “Slow down!” He said, and Bokuto did so, halting in place and turning around to face him, smiling as he waited. Once Akaashi had caught up to him, the younger sighed. “Where are you even going?” 

“There’s a gym nearby,” he said excitedly. “We’ll play volleyball there!” He said, happily, clearing having assumed since Akaashi used to play, he’d want to play now. 

Akaashi shook his head. “What? No. Bokuto-san.” He said, reaching out to grab the athlete’s forearm to stop him. 

Bokuto smiled brightly and innocently replied: “Yeah, Akaashi?” And somehow made Akaashi lose his train of thought. 

It took a few moments of staring at the taller with awe before finally realizing he needed to speak soon. “I don’t think we should.”

“Why not?” He asked, quirking his head. “It’ll be fun!” 

Akaashi took a deep breath. He wanted to say he couldn’t, to make up some lie that he had an awful accident that stopped him from touching the material of the volleyball… but something about the excitement in Bokuto’s eyes stopped him.

“Fine…” He said softly. 

Bokuto, not deterred, walked on, cheering. “What position did you play?” He asked, checking both sides of the road before walking across.

“Setter.” Akaashi said, following behind him, checking the road far more than Bokuto had. 

By Bokuto’s reaction, Akaashi had assumed that was a good thing. “Seriously!?” Bokuto turned his eyes to Akaashi. “That’s amazing. I’m a wing spiker!” He said, extremely proud of himself. “You have to set for me!” He smiled, walking faster again. “It’s not that far from here,” He promised as he hurried down the sidewalk. 

Akaashi gave a weak, nervous smile as he grew more and more worried by the second. It was in this moment, as he was trailing behind Bokuto (who was practically skipping down the sidewalk), that he wished he had just stayed in the cafe and finished the project. 

A few minutes later, he saw what was most likely the gym and he took a deep breath. He  _ really  _ didn’t want to go through with this. He hadn’t touched a volleyball in years now… not since his last year of highschool. 

Bokuto just walked in like it was nothing… who’s gym was this? Was he allowed to just walk in?

Akaashi followed him in and watched as Bokuto turned on the lights and called out if anyone was in there. He wasn’t sure where Bokuto’s thought process was with that one. “Most people don’t play volleyball in the dark, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi pointed out.

“You never know,” he said simply, walking into a random closet, then coming back out with a ball. 

Akaashi swallowed thickly. 

Bokuto actually noticed. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I didn’t.” Akaashi said shortly.

“It’d be cool if you did.” Bokuto said nonchalantly, bouncing the ball on the ground, and catching it in his hands. “You could write an article on it.  _ The Story of the Haunted Gym.  _ I can see it now.” he smiled, laughing a bit. “Okay, now. Catch.” He tossed the ball at Akaashi. 

Akaashi, with his bag still slung over his arm, quickly lifted his hands. He looked at the ball, felt it between his fingers, and his nervous frown slowly twitched into a smile. “Alright.” He said softly. He tossed the ball back to Bokuto and went to place his bag next to his. “But you know, I don’t think skinny jeans and a sweater is the best volleyball attire.” He said, shrugging off his coat. “So if I suck, I will be blaming it on that,” he joked.

“Well that’s just poor planning on your part.” Bokuto said, laughing. “I always dress like volleyball is right around the corner.” He said proudly. 

“You’re wearing shorts in freezing cold weather.” Akaashi said with a bored tone. 

“It’s not even that cold!” He said defensively. 

Akaashi rolled his eyes and walked over to the court. “Okay, fine. It’s not even cold.” he mocked.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Bokuto said with a smile. He tossed the ball back to Akaashi. “Show me what you go, word-boy.”

“Word-boy?” Akaashi asked. 

“Yup.”

“Okay, dick-pic man.”

“Uncalled for!” Bokuto said, opening his arms. “Just give me the ball.” 

“I haven’t done this in years, Bokuto-san.” He said, trying not to sound nervous as he lightly tossed the ball to Bokuto.

Bokuto clearly wasn’t concerned about how rusty Akaashi was. “You'll do fine!” He caught the ball in his hands. “I can spike any toss anyway, so even if you do suck it’ll be fine.” He said with so much confidence it made Akaashi believe it. 

“Alright then…”

So, he took a deep breath.

“Ready?” Bokuto asked. 

“Sure.” Akaashi said quietly. 

Bokuto threw the ball up and got ready to spike it. With a final breath, Akaashi got ready to set. He felt the ball come into contact with his hands. 

He set. 

The ball danced in the air. 

And landed with a thud, completely avoiding Bokuto’s hand.

_ Miss.  _

Bokuto jumped up excitedly and went to pick up the ball. “That was pretty good all things considered-”

“Oh, god, that was awful- again.” Akaashi said, getting set again. “I’m gonna get this right.”

Bokuto jumped up and smiled. “Yes! Awesome! Perfect! Let’s go!”

❁❁❁

Saying it took a lot of tries was an understatement. In total, they probably spent forty minutes just trying for the ball to make it over the net. But finally, it happened. Akaashi did a set he was happy with and Bokuto spiked it perfectly, knocking the water bottle over. They both jumped up in excitement. 

“Finally!” Akaashi smiled. He was heavily panting, but couldn’t help but to smile at Bokuto, who was jumping up and down.

“Hell yeah!” Bokuto said, running over to the water bottle. “You’re no match for us!” He said, skipping around the fallen bottle. He then picked up the ball. “...Again?”

Still panting, Akaashi looked at Bokuto with a glint in his eye he hadn’t had for a while. “... Yeah… again.” 

After that first hit, they had nothing but  _ practically  _ perfect accuracy. It was hit after hit. Eventually, Bokuto had even brought out the rest of the balls and set up even more bottles. Akaashi took off his sweater and was thankful for the undershirt he had chosen to wear. 

An hour later an older man, probably around 60, wearing a tracksuit entered. He looked at the mess of bottles and volleyballs littered across the gym and wore a shocked expression for quite some time before finally speaking. 

“I didn’t see anyone scheduled…” He then looked at the two boys. “What team are you from anyway?”

Akaashi got nervous because he didn’t even know the name of this gym - so he sure couldn’t answer any of these questions. Usually when he was somewhere he wasn’t… he knew more about it… and would be able to lie his way out. But, this time, Bokuto was the one who knew things about this place, and he really didn’t seem like the lying type. 

Therefore, Akaashi felt like he was about to have a panic attack. 

“You really don’t recognize me?” Bokuto said, spreading his arms, displaying himself proudly. “Bokuto Koutarou!” He announced. 

The old man thought for a moment. “Oh!” He said, placing his hand on his forehead. “My boy! I do owe you my apologies.” He said, bowing slightly. “You look different out of your volleyball uniform.” 

“No need to apologize.” Bokuto smiled. “And no one was scheduled, you’re right. I just swung by to practice because I missed this morning,” He said, his hand flying to the back of his neck nervously. “How long till your team comes in?”

“Thirty minutes or so, I just came early to set things up.” He said, his tone turning far more friendly than it had been when he first entered.

Akaashi was just awkwardly standing in between them, taking deep breaths from both the panic and the physical activity. 

“Alright, I’m sorry about all this, Coach, we’ll start cleaning everything up right now- and even help you set everything up.” 

“No, just put all the balls back in the cart and I’ve got the rest.”

“You sure? It’s really no problem.” Bokuto said, already starting to pick up some of the balls. Akaashi followed his actions, starting in the far corner and working his way in - distancing himself as much as possible from the coach as possible.

“Yeah.” The older man assured. “They’re all in trouble anyway, the first half of practice is just gonna be diving laps.”

Akaashi and Bokuto both winced. That sounded awful. Akaashi could feel the bruises. 

“O-oh, alright,” Bokuto said, thanking whatever god would listen that he was not practicing with them tonight. He mourned for them for a few moments before bouncing back into his bubbly self. “Well, we’ll try to hurry and be on our way.” Bokuto promised as he picked up a few balls at a time and tossed them into the bin like basketballs. Akaashi on the other hand, made sure to get closer before tossing them. He didn’t want to embarrass himself with missing half the shots and possibly hitting someone. 

Once everything was cleaned, despite the heat, Akaashi put his sweater back on, but held his jacket in his hand. 

“Bye Coach!” Bokuto said, waving goodbye to the older man. “Don’t go too harsh on them.”

“No promises,” said the Coach with a laugh. “Stay outta trouble,”

Bokuto spread his arms and began walking backwards out of the gym. “No promises, Coach.” He laughed, quoting what the older had said just moments ago. 

“You’re a handful in a half, boy.” 

“Oh, I know.” Bokuto laughed, pushing the door open, and walking out. (Having done this all backwards, Akaashi was oddly impressed.)

Once they were a few feet away from the gym, Akaashi turned to Bokuto. “Who was that?”

“Oh,” Bokuto began. “That’s the coach of our number one competitor. He usually hates us, but he likes me because I helped one of his spikers.”

“Oh.. well that was nice of you.”

“I’m just a great senpai like that!” He smiled, crossing his arms and looking up. 

“Suuuuure.” Akaashi said, rolling his eyes. 

“What?!” He said defensively. “I am!”

“I never said you weren’t.”

Bokuto eyed him skeptically, but eventually got distracted, as he usually did. “Wanna get lunch?” 

“Why not?” Akaashi asked, sighing upon realizing they probably weren't gonna get any more work done for the day. 

“Whatcha feeling like?” Bokuto asked, looking around. “I’m personally thinking ramen but-”

“Ramen’s fine.” He said, looking where Bokuto was to see if the athlete had seen a certain place.

Bokuto jumped up. “You sure?”

Well how could he say ‘no’ now? 

“Yeah. Sounds good.” 

“HECK YEAH! Awesome!” Bokuto smiled, making his way across the street, hardly checking both sides of the road. 

“Bokuto-san! Slow down.” Akaashi said, carefully crossing the road. “You’re gonna get hit by a car.”

“Car-Smar.” Bokuto laughed as he reached the sidewalk, he looked back and waited for Akaashi to finish crossing. 

Akaashi rolled his eyes. “How have you made it this far in life?”

“Definitely my good looks.” Bokuto said with a smirk, his hand forming an L-shape and flying up to his jaw to frame his face. 

It was at this moment, as Akaashi made it to the other side of the road, and saw the proud gleam in Bokuto’s eyes, that he realized what he found so endearing about Bokuto. 

He was just so carefree - and absolutely  _ nothing  _ like him. 


End file.
